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Monthly Archives: April 2009

The UPS guy dropped off my new saddle a couple hours ago. I’m really impressed with it so far. Much more comfortable, I’m not sliding forward, and it looks really good! I took a short run for dinner tonight and so far like it. Longer runs to follow as I go through the break-in period.

I’ve been planning on upgrading the seat on the RT since the ride to Houston last year, and did my homework. My first choice was Russell Day-Long, but when I called them they weren’t going to be able to get to me until the beginning of June. So I went with my second choice, also very well regarded, Bill Mayer Saddles. The required pictures have been taken, the saddle’s off the bike, and has been given to UPS to get it out to Ojai, CA.

They’re saying that it’s going to be about a two week turn around, so now I’m just waiting.

The office redesign is moving ahead. I went to Ikea today and picked up an L shaped desk for the office. Now I’ve got to clear everything out so that I can paint the walls before assembling the new desk. It’s a good excuse to do something I’ve needed to do for a while, namely clear out 8 years of accumulated junk!

I took the girls in for their annual spring lion cuts. It helps them stay cooler in the long Texas summer and cuts down the amount of fur in the house by a factor of a billion or so. They’re mellowing out now but look a lot better. Now they really are fuzzballs!

After getting back from the trailer expedition I finally got to work on getting the rain sensor installed and hooked up to the irrigation controller. The installation went easily, no major issues at all. That should have been a warning because getting it wired up to the controller wasn’t as easy as I thought it was. First off, even though Rain Bird said a rain sensor could be connected, the manual had no instructions on how to do it. Nor did their web site have much info until I finally went over to the contractor side and found the instructions for their sensor. It turns out that on controllers like mine, which don’t have dedicated rain sensor connections, you need to put it in line with the common wire, and be darned sure that the sensor is an “always-on” type. Once I did that and got back up on the ladder I confirmed that it was working the way it should, so now I shouldn’t be wasting water by running the sprinklers after a rain storm. And it also has a freeze sensor so it should also keep from icing up the sidewalk during our schizo springs and falls.

Thanks to a great suggestion I went up to Tractor Supply in Denton and picked up a 4×6 trailer for a lot cheaper than Home Depot or Lowes had them for. I had to get an 8″ drop for the hitch due to the lift, but the trailer drove all the back home with nary a problem. Now I won’t have to bum pickup trucks from friends nearly as much!